1,4-Dioxane

What is 1,4-Dioxane?

1,4 dioxane is not an ingredient, but rather a by-product that can be formed in tiny (trace) amounts when making a wide variety of ingredients, including cleaning ingredients, used in everyday products. It can also be formed from everyday actions like cooking foods.

Being safe

If you washed and wore over 1,000 loads of laundry every day, you would still be below a safe limit for 1,4-dioxane.

You would have to wash your hair over 620 times a day to reach a potential level of concern for 1,4-dioxane.

Feeling safe

Regulatory agencies have determined that the trace amounts of 1,4-dioxane in consumer products pose no harm. But we understand some of you have questions, so we have been working to reduce and/or eliminate its presence in our products, while still delivering the cleaning performance all of us expect. To update you on our progress:

We are continuing to reduce the level of 1,4-dioxane in our household cleaning products even though they are already below amounts that are safe.

Our household cleaning products will be at or below 25 part per million (ppm) 1,4-dioxane by the end of 2013. Many are already below 10 ppm.

Our beauty products are reliably at or below 10 part per million (ppm) 1,4-dioxane, well below amounts that are safe.

Our baby diapers and wipes have no 1,4-dioxane.

Where is is 1,4-dioxane found?

1,4-dioxane has been found in trace amounts in cooked chicken, shrimp, and tomatoes. It can also be formed at low levels in certain food additives approved by the FDA for use in frozen desserts like ice cream and sherbets.

Traces of 1,4-dioxane can be formed when making certain cleansing ingredients used in some cosmetic products. FDA has been monitoring 1,4-dioxane in cosmetic products for over 30 years and their website states that amounts in those products “do not present a hazard to consumers.”

Since 1,4-dioxane is not easily absorbed by the skin and is rapidly eliminated from the body, it was not surprising that a US CDC study was unable to detect any 1,4-dioxane in over 2,000 US residents.

Waste from P&G Charmin plant in Mexico is now used to make roof tiles for the local community.